Diamond-shaped playing pieces



Feb. 25, 1958 R; COWAN DIAMOND-SHAPED PLAYING PIECES Filed Aug. 16, 19546 W wv INVENTOR RAEL COWAN.

BY M

ATTORNEY 2,824,740 DIAMOND-SHAPED PLAYING PIECES Rael Cowan, Brooklyn,N; Y. Application August 16, 1954,Serial No. 449,971 3 Claims. 01.273-137) This invention relates to a matching" and tallying gameinvolving the use of diamond-shaped playing pieces.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a game inwhich a plurality of diamond-shaped playing pieces are matched byplacing them side by side in selected positions. They are matched in twosenses: In the first place, one of the sides of each piece is matchedagainst one of the sides of another piece. It is also possible to matchmore than one side of each piece against the sides of a plurality ofother pieces, all at the same time. In the second place, each piece hasa given value or given values and the pieces may be matched by matchingtheir respective values. Matching values may be tallied in accordanceWith the rules of the game.

The game herein claimed may be played with diamondshaped pieces ofidentical size and shape. The values of the respective pieces would, ofcourse, differ, although among the many pieces which would comprise agiven set, some pieces may, if desired, be identical in value. The gamemay also be played, in accordance with other rules, with pieces of likeand unlike size and shape but in all cases the pieces would be ofdiamond shape. Thus, the game may be played with a plurality ofdiamondsha'ped pieces of given dimensions and proportions and with aplurality of diamond-shaped pieces of dilferent dimensions andproportions. It should be possible, however, to match the sides of eachgroup of diamonds against the sides of the other group of diamonds. Thisdoes not necessarily mean that the sides of the respective groups ofdiamonds must be identical in length. As will hereinafter more clearlyappear, it has been found desirable to provide one group of diamondswith slightly smaller sides than the other group of diamonds since as apractical matter they seem to fit in with each other better that way.This will be observed in the drawing.

Unusual patterns and arrangements are possible with the use ofdiamond-shaped playing pieces, especially made in accordance with theproportions illustrated in' the draw ing. These patterns andarrangements occur as the game is played and render it both interestingand unpredictable as'to its ultimate outcome, both in appearance andscore.

7 An important feature of this invention is the shape of these playingpieces, in addition to their diamond shape, which enables them to bepicked up from a horizontal playing surface, such as a table or aplaying board, with great ease. More specifically, opposing corners ofeach diamond are beveled olf, both on top and on the bottom, so that allthat need be done to pick up a given or selected piece, irrespective ofits location with regard to other pieces on the same playing area, is topress one of the beveled corners down With a finger, thereby tilting theopposite corner up and rendering it accessible to the other fingers ofthe same hand or to the other hand.

To prevent the fingers from slipping off the beveled corners of thesepieces when it is desired to tilt them, as above described, it isdesirable to provide the beveled surfaces with a plurality of transverseridges or corru- 2,824,740 Patented Feb. 25, 1958 2 gasses:These'ridges' or coriiiga tionspiovide anon-skid stance for tfic't na'lengagement with the fingers.

The invention is illustrated irithe accompanying drawing in which: H V II I Fig. 1- isa plan of a diamond-shaped playing piece made inaccordance with this invention:

Fig. 2 is a" section th'erth rougIi on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. g

Fig; 3 is a viewsiriiilai to that of Fig 1 of another di'amondsh'apedplaying piece' made in" accordance with thisinv'ention. I 4 IFig. 4' is a pla'rrvievv of three pieces of the character shown in Fig.1, showingnew they r'r'iay be matched side, byside. 7 g

Fig; 5 is similar View of five diamonds made in accordance with Fig." 1,showing how they may be matched;

Fig 6 is another arrangement of six diamonds made in accordance with 1*,showing another possible pattern or arrangement.

Fig. 7 is a plan view or two diamonds as shown in Fig. l and one diamondas shown in Fig; 3, showing how they may be matched together. I

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing three diamonds of the- Fig. 1 type andtwo diamonds of the'Figl 3 type, showing h0w they are matched.

Fig". 9' shows another arrangement whereby six" Fig. I type diamonds areplayed together with a single Fig. 3 diamond.

Fig. 10 shows a plurality of Fig. 1 diamonds matched with a; pair ofFig. 3" diamonds, one of said Fig. 3 diamonds being shown in place andthe other Fig. 3 diamond being shown in spaced position preparatory tobeing moved into place.

Fig. 11 is still another plan view of a" plurality of diamonds made in'accordance with Fig. 1' and a plurality of diamonds made' in accordancewith Fig. 3, showing how it is possible to match their'respective sidesto form a differentpattern or arrangement.

, Referring now to Figs. 1- and 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that adiamond-shaped pla'yin'g piece 20 is provided whichmay be made ofcardboard, wood, plastics or any other suitable material; The diamond issymmetrical in the sense that all four sides are identical in length andopposite angles are identical in size; Thus, the angles at corners 22'and- 24 are, preferably, approximately 70 degrees and the angles atcorners 26 and 28 are", preferably, approximately degrees, making atotal of 360 degrees for all of the angles or corners of the diamond.The top andbottom surfaces 30 and 32,r'espectively, are parallel to eachother, except for a centrally disposed concave or recess 34' in the topsurface 36. When the piece is placed upon a flat playing area, such asatable top or game board, it is easy to move the piece from placetoplace" on said playing area by simply placing ones finger in recess364' and pushing or pulling the piece toa-desired or selected location.

I-'t-is also to be noted that corners 26 and 28 are beveled oft" both atthe top and at the bottom and provided with ridges- 29; to form beveledcorners 36 and 33 respec; tively. As has above been indicated, playingpiece 2%) may be' picked up from the playing area, or any otherhorizontal surface, whether or not surrounded by other playing pieces,by simply depressing one of the" beveled corners, say corner 36; andthereby causing the opposite beveled corner, namely corner 38,- to tiltupwardly, thus rendering it accessible" to the fingers of either hand.Ridges 29 prevent the fingers from slipping'oil the beveled corners. g 7

Playing piece 40 shown in Fig, 3 is like playing piece 20 except forsize and angular shape. Playing piece 41} is a diamond having paralleltop and bottom sides, its opposite far corners defining, preferably, 40degree angles and its opposite near corners defining, preferably, 140degree angles. Playing piece 40 has a recess formed thereincorresponding to recess 34, although, in practice it may be found toosmall to accommodate such recess. However, should the piece be madelarge enough to have such recess formed therein, this should be done tobring it into closer correspondence to the construction of playing piece20.

It will be noted that the diamond-shaped playing pieces shown in thedrawing are marked with indicia of their respective values. These valuesrelate to certain games which may be played with these pieces inaccordance with certain bodies of rules which I have developed. Thesebodies of rules are not all inclusive and it is perfectly feasible toprovide other rules in connection with these pieces. It will beunderstood that the indicia on the several pieces are illustrative ofthe various markings which may be applied to these pieces, includingnumerals, letters, symbols, playing card characters, figures, designsand even colors. For the purposes of the specification and claims, theword indicia will be used to designate all of these various markings.

It will also be understood that the various combinations of pieces shownin the several figures of the drawing are also intended to beillustrative of the various combinations, arrangements, plays and moveswhich are possible in games played with these pieces. It will further beunderstood that all of the pieces need not be played in a single game,but, instead, some games may be played with only some of these pieces,and other games with other pieces, and still other games may be playedwith various combinations of pieces forming separate groups, eachcapable of being played in a single game.

As illustrative of the markings on the diamond-shaped pieces 20 hereinclaimed, Number 4" appears at corner 22 and Number "7 appears at corner24 of the diamondshaped piece 20 shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 4, onediamondshaped piece 20 is provided with Numbers 1 at its opposite ends,another is provided with Numbers 2 and "4 at its opposite ends, and athird is providedwith Numbers "3 and 5 at its opposite ends. It will beobserved that in playing the several pieces relative to each other, theyare placed side by side, and in accordance with one set of rules, thevalues of the adjacent corners of each adjacent pair of pieces aretotaled. Thus, when two players are engaged in a single game, as eachplaces a diamond-shaped piece adjacent one already on the playing area,a total of values is made and the player who achieves the higher scorewins the game.

In Fig. 5 a playing piece 20 is marked Diamond 3 Double and it will beunderstood that this marking indicates a higher value than the simplemarking 33. In accordance with certain rules of the game, this highervalue may constitute double the value of the piece itself hearing suchmarking and the piece or pieces against which it is placed. Fig. 5 alsoindicates a blocking arrangement whereby one piece may be placed in suchposition that another piece of like size is prevented from being placedadjacent one of the sides of the first mentioned piece and one of thesides of a piece already on the playing area. Thus, a space designatedas 50 isformed between two pieces and said space is obviously too smallto receive a third piece of like size and consequentlythe sides of thepieces which define said opening 50 no longer participate in the game.In Fig. 6 another arrangement of pieces is shown and alsotwo new typesof' alues. Thus, one of the pieces is designated as a Dividend Joker anda second piece is designated as a Lucky Diamond" and it will beunderstood that these pieces possess higher or different values orqualities than the standard numbered pieces possess or represent.

Fig. 7 shows how the large and small diamonds are played together. Itwill be observed that two large diamonds 20 are placed side by side andone small piece 40 is then placed adjacent the two larger diamonds toform the representation of a three dimensional box or cube. It wouldobviously not be possible to place one of the larger diamonds 20 in thelocation occupied by the smaller diamond since its proportions do notcorrespond to the proportions of the space occupied by said smallerpiece. The useof both smaller and larger pieces in a single game addsversatility to it. The small piece 40 shown in Fig. 7 has a valuedesignated by the Roman numeral II and this value is defined in therules. Fig. 8 is a projection, so to speak, of the arrangement shown inFig. 7 and it will be noted that two small pieces 40 and three largepieces 20 are placed against each other. It is clear that the spacesoccupied by the larger pieces could not adequately be occupied by thesmaller pieces and conversely, the spaces occupied by the smaller piecescould not possibly accommodate the larger pieces. It will now be seenwhy it is that the sides of the smaller pieces are made somewhat shorterthan the sides of the larger pieces, despite the fact that the sides ofall of these pieces are intended to match. If the sides of the severalpieces were identical in length, it would be necessary for the smallerpieces to have knife-edge corners at their respective far ends. To avoidthis condition, which would be dangerous, the sides of the smallerpieces are made slightly shorter than the sides of the larger pieces andthey are not made with sharp ends.

Figs. 9, l0 and 11 show various other arrangements of pieces which maybe had in accordance with the rules of the game or games. The variouspossibilities are almost infinite in number and there is wide scope forthe exercise of the players skill and ability. This is not, essentially,a game of chance.

The foregoing is illustrative of preferred forms of this invention andit will be understood that these preferred forms may be modified andother forms may be provided within the broad spirit of the invention andthe broad scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A matching and tallying game comprising a plurality of diamond-shapedplaying pieces, consisting of two groups of such playing pieces, onegroup consisting of relatively large playing pieces and the second groupconsisting of relatively small playing pieces, all of the sides of allof said playing pieces in both groups being substantially of the samelength for matching purposes, whereby each playing piece may be placedimmediately adjacent another playing piece in side-by-side abutmenttherewith, the larger playing pieces being provided with oppositecorners which define 70 degree angles, the other opposite cornersthereof defining angles of degrees, the smaller playing pieces beingprovided with opposite corners defining 40 degree angles, the otheropposite corners thereof defining angles of degrees, whereby the smallerplaying pieces may be inserted between said larger playing pieces whenthe latter are juxtaposed in side-by-side matching relationship, saidlarger and smaller playing pieces being marked with indicia of theirrespective values so that a tally may be taken of the total values ofthe matched juxtaposed playing pieces.

2. A matching and tallying game in accordance with claim 1, wherein eachplaying piece is beveled off on its bottom surface at its oppositecorners, whereby said playing piece may be tilted upwardly at one endwhen its opposite end is pressed downwardly, said playing piece beingprovided in its top surface with a recess to accommodate a finger of theperson playing the piece to enable him to move said playing piecereadily across a playing area.

3. A matching and tallying game in accordance with claim 2, wherein theindicia on each playing piece is marked on its top surface at oppositeends thereof, the indicia on the larger playing pieces being located attheir 70 degree angles and the indicia on the smaller playing piecesbeing located at their 40 degree angles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

